Tri-Town won’t say what holdup is on Navy land at former Weymouth air base

Officials overseeing SouthField, the redevelopment of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station, are still working on a key land deal with the Navy more than two months after the date they told Weymouth town councilors it would be done.

Officials overseeing SouthField, the redevelopment of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station, are still working on a key land deal with the Navy more than two months after the date they told Weymouth town councilors it would be done.

At a meeting in September, Kevin Donovan, the chief executive of South Shore Tri-Town Development Corp., and Jeff Wall, chairman of the public agency’s board of directors, repeatedly told town councilors they expected to reach a deal with the Navy by early January at the latest.

“It’s of paramount importance in my mind that we finish this off by the end of the year,” Donovan said at the time.

Securing the remaining 900 acres the Navy still owns at the former naval air station is critical for the development of 2,800 residential units and 2 million square feet of commercial space to get beyond the first phase of construction.

Donovan said Tuesday negotiations ended up taking longer than Tri-Town officials had expected, but he said he hopes to have a deal signed soon.

“We’re working on it very diligently at the moment,” he said.

Donovan said he couldn’t comment about the factors that have contributed to the delay.

Arthur Mathews, president of the town council, said he is working with Tri-Town for project officials to provide an update at a council meeting either later this month or in April.

But Councilor Kenneth DiFazio said he’s not expecting to hear anything new the next time Tri-Town comes before the council.

“They’ll have another story, another line, another reason,” DiFazio said. “They’ll continue to say it without giving any particulars. It’s hard for any local politician to feel confident about what they are doing when that’s their response.”

SouthField is on land in Weymouth, Rockland and Abington. The South Weymouth Naval Air Station closed in 1997.

After years of delays, there was a burst of activity on the property last summer, including work on a road across the base and deals for the first home and commercial construction. Framing for the first 60 houses started going up in January and the master developer, LNR Property Corp., hopes to have the first residents move in this spring.